The Big Cat

The Preseason and Training Camp he missed the last two weeks of? I'm VERY curious to read the All-22 cam analyses this week. May be I'll come back here and eat crow, but I think you're wrong in your assumptions as to what was called/what was executed. Ha, thanks.

Don't want Fred/CJ absorbing the first hit.

Does Marrone strike you as the kind of guy too proud to know a weight around his ankle when he has one? Me neither. We had two or three of those Sunday. I believe they were consistently 6-8 yard gains. The middle screen also got blown up...A LOT...lost year. And it's not the easiest timing play to execute.

Until we know the playbook is no longer "limited," how can we say the coaches trust their players (rookie QB, turnstyle LG, rookie WR, TJ) are ready? It's been three weeks. If--in ten weeks--we still haven't seen any of these things, it'll be time to raise an eyebrow. Of course, now the team is in a lose-lose. If they come out and carve the Ravens to ribbons using these kinds of plays, the line will be: they were too idiotic to do this against New York!?

One and a half drives into Sunday's game, and no less than five fans in the gameday thread were calling for Hackett's head on a stake. That's fine. The gameday thread has never been known to be a sanctuary for balanced discourse. I bit back, a little, then gave up when: It was clearly a futile effort. It was clearly a rough day for the offensive staff, coaches included. That said, and while fully acknowledging Hackett's shortcomings in the loss, I'm still not ready to blame the playcalling. Here's why: Expectations Rookie quarterback, rookie OC. The moment the Bills announced Hackett would be taking over the play calling duties, a certain sect of Bills fans (and not necessarily a marginally-sized one, mind you) saw their opportunity to lambaste the front office. Couldn't blame them, really. After Ralph handing over the keys (something The Realists have been clamoring for for years), after jumping on a HC hire that was widely revered league-wide and in the media, and after stealing arguably the best coordinator available in Pettine, there wasn't a lot to B word about. Then came Hackett. Suddenly, a sliver of daylight for the doomers to pounce. Their jumbo-sized microscopes calibrated, they couldn't wait for this guy to give them an excuse to complain. Suddenly, the first quarter of Sunday's game. It. Was. On. The way some "fans" were going bonkers, you would have thought Hackett was calling double-reverse flea flicker screen punts on first down. They got what they wanted: our lousy, cheap, stuck-in-the-past FO screwed the pooch...AGAIN. What a bunch of !@#$ing losers the Bills are. Meanwhile: reality. He is a rookie OC. He is a young rookie OC. And through three games, the Jets have showed their defense is as every bit as good as it's been the last half-decade since Rexy took over. Oh yeah. We also have a rookie QB. And not Andrew--kissed by Christ himself--Luck. We have a rookie QB whose size and intangibles are universally admired, but whose skills and abilities are questionable enough that not since Rex Grossman in 2002 Chad Pennington (18) in 2000 has the first quarterback in a draft come off the board after so many picks. E.J. Manuel is going to struggle this year. He already has, and he will continue to do so. Week-to-week analyses have indicated that he's on a short playbook leash as it is, and as we've already acknowledged, he doesn't have an innovator like Chan (who by the way has nearly as many years coaching as Hackett does living) finding ways to hide his shortcomings. Yet a certain pod of Bills fans expects the Hackett/Manuel duo--after 12 whole quarters of NFL football--to be perfect. And when they're not, they're failures, they're an excuse to pout and say "same Ole Bills." Well, they're not the same Ole Bills. Fans shouldn't expect them to be, just like they shouldn't expect Brady/Bellicheat mastery, right out of the gate. Execution You can argue till you're blue in the fact about whether or not Nix was a good GM, whether or not Whaley is ready to have the keys, or whether or not Buffalo is any position to build a championship franchise...ever. But nothing changes the fact that--quietly--our team underwent a MASSIVE gutting this offseason, turning over players at skill-positions, on the line, practically all over the field. And even if Hackett was calling double-reverse flea flicker screen punts on first down, the team can't afford to miss blocks and fail to find openings like it did on Sunday. Missed throws, missed lanes, missed blocks, poorly run routes: if the game had been devoid of any of these, then the blame rests with the playcalling. Instead, we watched a game sick with these mistakes. Hackett does need to do a better job of putting his players in a position to succeed, but that doesn't mean players don't have succeed in the positions they're put in. I understand after 13 years of playoff football and after 10 consecutive losing seasons, "patience" is a damn-near impossible ask. But c'mon, folks. If you expected a 13-3 season with flawless execution and gameplanning, then you set yourself up for disappointment. Yes, we should all want the best team out there. But that doesn't mean the team's growing pains should be your pleasure. And if you can't live with those pains, there are 31 other bandwagons accepting new passengers. GO BILLS! http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2013/9/24/4766678/bills-read-option-ej-manuel-cj-spiller-nathaniel-hackett

Bah--between the feed being ****ty and the game being worse, I picked the wrong Sunday to skip the Station in favor of the Ticket! Come find us down front in the main room next time you come through. Ours is the reserved table No thanks to me, of course. All credit be to Sujit--who lurks here--he's the guy who set The Station up as a Bills Bar.

...you !@#$ a stranger in the ass, Larry!

Well, since you've identified three--and only three--possibilities, then zero other possibilities exist.

The Voice of Truth Right.

My thoughts exactly. And now they have a new rodeo clown in Geno Smith.

Yeah, but still.

Serious question: how does one tear a quad? More importantly, how does one prevent tearing a quad? It's such a major, oft-engaged muscle, you'd think it'd be among the more sturdy. Could it have been an exertion issue? Did he just bend funny?

I do!

Three games does not an accurate profile make. That said, we all just have to go with our guts on this one, and in this case, it seems perception and reality just aren't sharing the same space from fan to fan. However, I do know that last year during the Titans game, I was completely unmoved by Brad Smith's KR for TD. Why? Because our defense was absolutely deplorable in that game, and anything we did to put points on the board was sure to be offset by the inability of Wanny and Co to stop...anything. I simply don't bemoan the defense like that this year. I find myself having those feelings for the offense, instead. The unit just isn't as futile as it has been for the past few years. They actually make plays and look like they belong on the field, for once.

I think the sarcasm in the latter part of my post was lost...

which teams have depth at every position?

I've decided that "re-building" is an inaccurate description because it's been a while since the last time anything was built.

Well, two key pieces missing from last year: Levitre and Fitz. Could that be the difference? I'm asking for real. I don't recall Hackett being afraid to throw a screen at Syracuse. Quite the opposite, in fact. Surely not an expert on Cuse football, so if someone knows better, please weigh-in.

May be we suck at them.

Yep. Because we still haven't produced a quarterback who's proven he can hit a receiver in stride down the sideline. I mean...PLAYCALLING SUCKED DONKEY BALLZZZZ!!!!@

May be, just may be that was the case. Sure. Or may be, just may be. as Alphadawg points out...AGAIN...we were third string or worse at EVERY DB position. Ugh...I just don't...this is exhausting.

Passing touch downs of 51 and 69 yards = long, drawn out drives in which our defense simply couldn't stop them. Don't ya know? And the other touch down? The one set up by the 45 yard pass? Also a drive in which our defense was getting repeatedly "gashed."

Then what are you arguing? That the defense was completely unable to stop them? Stats don't indicate that. That the defense was unable to stop them when it counts? Game didn't bear that out. That the Jets consistently rushed at will? Game logs and stats don't show that. That the defense didn't keep us in this game? That certainly wasn't the case. What's your argument here?